1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a light emitting device, and more particularly relates to a light emitting device constituted such that a light emitting element is installed on a metal member, and the light emitting element and a part of the metal member are embedded in a sealing member.
2. Related Art
In the past, the light emitting element shown in FIG. 7 has been proposed, for example, as a light emitting device in which a light emitting element is installed on a metal member, and the light emitting element and a part of the metal member are embedded in a sealing member (see JP-H11-346008-A).
With this light emitting device 40, a pair of lead terminals is constituted by a metal member 42 on which a light emitting element 41 is placed, and a metal member 43 that is paired with the metal member 42. The light emitting element 41 and the metal members 42 and 43 are embedded in a sealing member 44, and the sealing member 44 constitutes a lens-like convex portion 44a above the light emitting element 41.
With conventional light emitting devices such as this, a construction is usually employed in which the metal members are bent outside the sealing member, and when severe temperature changes in the usage environment of the light emitting device are taken into account, there is the risk that the metal members and the sealing member will not sufficiently adhere together. Also, with light emitting devices such as this, the metal members are surrounded by a relatively thick film of sealing member to ensure adequate strength of the sealing member. Accordingly, unintended light tends to leak from the side and bottom faces of the light emitting device, which lowers the light extraction efficiency to the top side of the light emitting device.